The SABC's new local content commissioning book is called ''very limited'' by South Africa's TV industry, very upset that South Africa's public broadcaster is not commissioning much more local TV content.
The SABC, at the beginning of November, released its first new Request for Proposals (RFP) document - or what the industry casually refers to as the ''RFP book''. The RFP book sets out what kinds of new local content and productions the SABC is looking at making, and inviting production houses to tender for those shows.
This RFP book is the first one in three years from the SABC - a period during which more than 17 000 people working in South Africa's television production industry lost their jobs and in which the SABC scaled back its local content production dramatically. The last time the SABC issued an RFP book before the new once released in November 2011, was in September 2008.
''While the SABC has released its latest RFP book, this book again is very limited,'' says the Support Public Broadcasting Coalition (SOS) in a statement. The SOS, a massive public pressure and interest group representing the vast majority of South Africa's TV industry, calls the SABC's latest RFP book inadequate and says there's ''also no guarantees that all these briefs will in fact be commissioned.''
''Since Since September 2008 only a fraction of the local content commissioned previous to 2008 has been commissioned,'' says the SOS. ''This system [RFP book] was an important marker in the transformation of the SABC, opening the corporation to pursue its stated strategy of promotion of plurality and diversity of voice.''
''In terms of local content and public programming, the SOS Coalition would like to see excellent public service programming on our screens and fair and transparent commissioning processes to ensure this.''
''The SOS Coalition demands that the SABC comply with the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa's (Icasa) local content regulations. We need more quality South African stories told by South Africans.''
